Mobility Scooters - MP's Urge Action

WhiteHorse

Invasion wrote:

Yes, lets confiscate the equivalent of a non disabled person's legs... That's basically what a scooter is, it's a pair of legs that work!

If someone is a menace to others, then yes, take the scooter away.

Until you've used a wheelchair/electric wheelchair/scooter, you have no idea how difficult it is to negotiate people who walk wandering from side to side, who stop with no warning, who walk towards you and expect you- the one with the harder-to-maneuver-than-legs-wheels to get out of the way and FAST!

Agreed. Even now, other pedestrians still surprise me with their lack of consideration.

WhiteHorse

LameWolf wrote:

... I do wonder if scooter owners are going to be used as a cash cow - compulsory lessons, tests, all costing us the earth.

That's the catch. The government is adept at identifying a legitimate issue, and then using it as an excuse to create a new tax and to employ a horde of jobsworths to enforce it.

WhiteHorse

jazabelle wrote:

... so I had to keep jerking to a stop on what was a clear road ...

Careful. It isn't a road, nor is there any priority for scooters.

WhiteHorse

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote:

Should the 4mph scooters be treated differently from the 6-8mph scooters? The 4mph ones are not "road legal" so can only be used on pavements ...Should there be MOT's too?

I can see your point, but would suggest that as both can cause serious injury or damage, both should be insured and checked.

... (you can be done for jay-walking on a 4mph scooter).

Appropriate now, but probably not if scooters are to be deemed proper vehicles.

jazabelle

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Careful. It isn't a road, nor is there any priority for scooters.

Didn't mean it was an actual road, or imply scooters had priority.

There are plenty of bad drivers of scooters, but I was saying unequally as annoying are those who simply step in front of a scooter and stop, which is very dangerous.

AsknAnswer2

It's like everything else, really. You'll get people who are responsible on them and people who drive like idiots on them. There is a woman who goes about on one in the city centre and she is a pest with it - she scoots along the pavement rather fast and doesn't have any level of courtesy whatsoever for other people. If I see anyone with a bulky aparatus needing past, be it a wheelchair, pram or a scooter I will step aside because generally they need the room to pass through, and I can move to the side more easily than they can negotiate a weave on a machine; that is common courtesy. This woman doesn't give people a chance to step aside, though - she just tears down the pavement. I've had a few near misses with her, as have others. Just mention "dangerous woman on the scooter" round here and everyone knows who you mean - yet there are 100's of scooter users round here. It's people like her that the law should sort out in the same manner as they would for anyone recklessly driving a car - driving without due care and attention. I had the unfortunate experience of this woman again today. Tearing down the street she was, as usual with no consideration for others.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]The law, in my opinion like I said earlier should be used sensibly to sort out those who drive recklessly, and I also think there should be a law against cyclists on pavements (they can ride wherever they like in Scotland). But by no means do I think that everyone on a scooter is dangerous, just like I don't think everyone driving a car or cycling a pushbike is dangerous and I don't think that the disabled should be stigmatised as bad drivers - there are many who are better drivers than people who hold drivers licences, but the law should be there to protect innocent people from those who do drive without due care and attention.
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sunnyone

Theres no such thing as jay walking in this country.

I have a NHS powerchair and to be eligable you must have reasonable eyesight, not be epilectic, prove that you are safe by test driving powerchairs and insure the powerchair, that should be the same for all powered mobility aids for everyones benefit but how could that be applied across the board?

The NHS took my driver licence into account during my assessments and I proved everything else during my three part assessment and they can take back the powerchair if I dont comply with the rules and inform them if I can no longer reach the standards required by the DSC.

Being disabled dosnt give anyone the right to terrorise communities by driving powered mobility aids in a way that harms people/property, most almost accidnets in my experiance are down to people not looking where they are going, I regularly have people sitting on my knees because they step backwards without looking.


Scooters should only be available to disabled people and not be used as personel transport by abled bodied people but how could that be policed?

And why should a disabled person risk there driving licence if they want a glass of wine at a wedding just because they cant self proppel a manual wheelchair?

There is no easy answer but insurance is necissary to protect yourself from county court action and something needs to be done to take dangerous scooter/powerchair users off the paths/roads, answers on a postcard please:) and it mustnt cost us a fortune!

molerat

And in the news http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2010/april/9/police_impound_strood_mans_di.aspx

Oscar_The_Grouch

sunnyone wrote: »

Theres no such thing as jay walking in this country.

Agreed; the offence would be one of causing an obstruction under S137 of the Highways Act 1980, but everyone understands "jaywalking" & may not have read the Act.

Nilrem

My personal opinion of scooters, having used one myself for a while, and my mother uses one daily, and having seen some of the idiots around the town would be.

Anyone using one should have a basic test to ensure they are capable of controlling it, and understand the highway code to a basic standard.
Something along the lines of a test to make sure they can steer it, reverse safely, make it through gaps etc.

They should always be insured, if just Third Party.

I'm not sure how viable it would be to have number plates etc on them, as a lot don't have much space for plates where they would be visible (none of my mum's have had a space where a plate could easily/safely be fixed, but not blocked by say the bag on the back, or the basket on the front).

What I have noticed is that some people are absolute idiots using them, we've got one woman around here who uses a slow one on the road, even on roundabouts! when there is plenty of space on the pavement, and crossings for example, whilst others race around expecting pedestrians to give way and not worrying too much about if they hit someone/something.

However a lot of pedestrians are completely without any common sense, or intelligence and seem oblivious to the world beyond their mobile phones screen (they walk into the road txting, let alone on the pavement).

The hard part is getting the balance right between protecting people from the small minority who are genuinely unsafe on scooters, and not getting in the way of the vast majority of the users who are safe, and in many cases it's their only way to get about independently on a daily basis.
I suspect the government will pass some stupid, half thought out legislation that doesn't actually do anything to solve the problem, makes life much harder for the legitimate/safe users of scooters but looks good in the Daily Mail and Sun.


Re the guy who got done for being drunk and disorderly on a scooter, iirc they could have done him for drink driving (as I understand it the law covers mobility scooters in that respect, as I believe it also covers bicycles under slightly different legislation), I'm fairly sure a guy local to me was done for it a few years back, after he'd already been banned from driving cars etc for the same offence.

On a semi related note, one thing that does worry me a bit about mobility scooters, is that I don't think many people quite register that if they are on medication the instructs them they shouldn't be driving or using heavy machinery, they probably should at the very least be rather cautious about using the scooters.